Wiltshire is England's most militarised downland county — a chalk plateau whose landscape has been shaped by the military from Stonehenge's ritual geometry to Salisbury Plain's tank training grounds. Its abandoned places are correspondingly extraordinary: a village evacuated at three days' notice in 1943 and never returned to its residents, a Cold War underground city built to govern Britain after nuclear attack and an RAF transport station whose control tower presided over the return of Britain's war dead for a decade. Here are 5 of the best abandoned places in Wiltshire, selected from our Abandoned Places Map UK — 640+ GPS locations across England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
Why Wiltshire Is a Hidden Gem for Urban Exploration
Wiltshire's urbex landscape is shaped by its unique combination of military restriction and civilian exclusion — Salisbury Plain's 94,000 acres of military training land have preserved a remarkable concentration of abandoned villages, medieval field systems and WWII structures simply by keeping the public out. The county's chalk downland preserves derelict structures in the dry, well-drained conditions that prevent the timber decay that destroys abandoned buildings in wetter counties.
1. Imber Village – Imber, Wiltshire — Medieval Village Evacuated 1943 for WWII Training, 155 Residents Given 47 Days' Notice, Never Returned, Salisbury Plain Military Zone (Known Location)
Imber is England's most poignant abandoned village — a medieval settlement that had been continuously inhabited for at least 900 years when the War Office gave its 155 residents 47 days' notice to leave in November 1943 so the village could be used for training US troops for the liberation of France. The residents never returned; the church, the farmhouses and the pub still stand in atmospheric ruin within Salisbury Plain's military training zone, accessible to the public on specific designated days each year. One of the most historically charged and most emotionally resonant abandoned settlements in England.
🔗 Learn more: Wikipedia – Imber Village Wiltshire
2. RAF Lyneham – Lyneham, Wiltshire — 1940-2012 RAF Transport Station, Repatriation Airfield for Britain's War Dead 2004-2011, Closed 2012, Station Buildings Derelict (Known Location)
RAF Lyneham was one of the RAF's most important transport stations — established in 1940 and serving as the primary repatriation airfield through which the bodies of British service personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan were returned to Britain between 2004 and 2011. The final repatriation took place at Lyneham in September 2011; the station closed in 2012. The original station buildings, control tower and technical infrastructure remain in progressive dereliction on the Wiltshire downland. The weight of the station's final decade — the cortèges through Royal Wootton Bassett — gives it an emotional significance that few abandoned RAF stations carry.
🔗 Also read: Top 5 Abandoned Places in England →
3. Burlington Underground City – Corsham, Wiltshire — Cold War Nuclear Bunker Built 1950s-1960s, Decommissioned 2004, Designed to House 4,000 Government Officials, Documented by Atlas Obscura (Known Location)
Burlington — also known as Subterfuge or Site 3 — is a Cold War underground city built beneath the Corsham quarries in the 1950s-1960s to house up to 4,000 government officials including the Prime Minister and Cabinet after a Soviet nuclear attack. With its own BBC studio, hospital, power station and lake, Burlington was Britain's secret government in waiting — declassified in 2004 and subsequently decommissioned. Documented by Atlas Obscura as one of the most extraordinary pieces of Cold War infrastructure in Britain; the scale of the underground city — 35 acres of tunnels and rooms — is without parallel in English abandoned heritage.
🔗 Learn more: Atlas Obscura – Burlington Underground City
4. Salisbury Plain Medieval Deserted Village – 12th-14th Century Settlement, House Platforms and Field Systems, Salisbury Plain Chalkland (Our Map Exclusive)
A 12th-14th century deserted medieval village on the Salisbury Plain chalkland — house platform earthworks, hollow ways and the ridge-and-furrow of the original open field system preserved in extraordinary completeness by the military's exclusion of agricultural improvement. Salisbury Plain has some of the finest preserved medieval earthwork landscapes in England precisely because the military took it over before tractors could level them. GPS coordinates available with our England Urbex Map.
5. Wiltshire Georgian Country House – 18th-Century Mansion, Grand Staircase and Library Intact, Walled Garden, Chalk Downland Setting (Hidden Gem — Our Map Only)
An 18th-century country house on the Wiltshire chalk downland — the original grand staircase still intact, the library with period shelving and the servants' wing with its bells and call board. The stable block and walled kitchen garden still stand in the overgrown grounds. Wiltshire's agricultural gentry built extensively across the chalk; post-war death duties emptied several estates within a decade. Included in our England collection — 400+ locations.
❓ FAQ
What is the most famous abandoned place in Wiltshire?
Imber — a medieval village evacuated at 47 days' notice in November 1943 for US troop training before D-Day. The 155 residents never returned; the church, farmhouses and pub still stand in atmospheric ruin within Salisbury Plain's military zone, accessible on specific designated open days.
What was Burlington?
A 35-acre underground city built beneath the Corsham quarries in the 1950s-1960s to house up to 4,000 government officials including the Prime Minister and Cabinet after a Soviet nuclear attack — with its own BBC studio, hospital, power station and underground lake. Declassified in 2004 and subsequently decommissioned, it is the most extraordinary piece of Cold War infrastructure in Britain.
Why was RAF Lyneham important?
As Britain's primary transport airfield, Lyneham served as the repatriation airfield through which the bodies of service personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan were returned between 2004 and 2011. The cortèges through neighbouring Royal Wootton Bassett became a national act of mourning; the station closed in 2012, leaving buildings whose recent emotional history gives them a weight no other derelict RAF station carries.
Safety Tips
- Military zone: Imber is within a live military training area — never attempt to visit outside designated open days; unexploded ordnance is present across Salisbury Plain
- Asbestos: endemic in pre-1980 RAF and military buildings — FFP2 mask mandatory in any enclosed space at Lyneham
- Never explore alone — always bring at least one other person
The urbex code: "Respect the decay. It tells the story."
🎯 Summary
Wiltshire's abandoned places range from a village whose 900-year history ended in 47 days' notice to a 35-acre underground city built for the Cabinet to survive nuclear war and an RAF transport station whose final decade was defined by the return of Britain's war dead. Each of these 5 derelict buildings in Wiltshire captures a different layer of a county that has been shaped by military power from Stonehenge to the Cold War.
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